Tips

If you use semi-dried tomatoes (soaked in oil), you’ll need to drain them thoroughly to remove as much oil as possible, skip the soaking and possibly leave out the extra water as well.

Sun-dried tomato soak water is a fabulous substitute for stock, so keep any leftover soak water for flavouring soups, dips and savoury dishes.

I used Roma tomatoes in this recipe, but you could use any kind of fresh tomato. Play with it and see what you like best. Homegrown heritage tomatoes would be awesome in this raw tomato sauce.

Note that 1 Australian tablespoon = 20ml, not 15ml, like the American tablespoon.

The best kinds of salt to use are Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt. These both contain lots of minerals, in addition to salt, and add extra flavour and nutrition to the sauce.

The guar gum is not necessary. It just helps to stop the water separating out over time, but you can just mix it back in with a spoon easily enough.

You can use xanthum gum instead of guar gum if that’s what you have.

This tomato sauce lasts very well in the fridge. I had one batch that we took a month to eat, and it was completely fine even after that long. If you use fresh onion and garlic it may not last quite as well, but then it’s so delicious, why would it?

Take it further

The onion powder, garlic powder and guar gum are not raw ingredients. If you want to make this recipe completely raw, you could use fresh onion and garlic instead (use 2-4 times as much) and leave out the guar gum. This will probably reduce how long this sauce will keep for, perhaps only 5-7 days, although I haven’t actually tried it for myself.

You could also try making your own onion and garlic powder, maybe by blending, drying and grinding them? I’ll let you know if I ever attempt this one.

Next time tomatoes are in season, you could dry your own tomatoes in the dehydrator, and then you can be sure they’re 100% raw (and even more delicious!)

My inspiration

I have so many fond memories from my childhood of the classic Heinz tomato sauce, and I just really, REALLY wanted to re-create that experience.

There’s just nothing like the sweet, tangy, tomatoey taste of a good ketchup recipe, so I was determined to find a recipe that I loved.

But every recipe I found for raw tomato ketchup added all sort of odd things that I knew would just spoil the experience for me.

So I went back to basics. Instead of looking for “raw” recipes, I went looking for “authentic” recipes, and found someone who had re-created the genuine Heinz tomato ketchup flavour, using traditional cooking methods.

And then I just used my years of experience adapting recipes, to translate what they’d done into the raw equivalents, and this amazing concoction is what emerged!

I love it when a recipe turns out as well as this. And now my taste buds are finally satisfied.

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Yes, it is very good, isn’t it? We’ve been making double batches that barely last two days around here. We use it for everything – pizzas, as a dip, as a sandwich spread, in the middle of half an avocado, as a pasta sauce, as a salsa. It’s AMAZINGLY versatile and we LOVE it! :D

I am not, myself, focussed on raw food; however, I do know something about kitchen safety. If you make this ketchup with raw fresh onions the length of time it will keep will be in direct proportion to how much vinegar you use. There is not much danger in the spoilage of high-acid foods like this. Botulism, which is the most dangerous, cannot grow in acid environments. (But be careful about storing things like pesto for extended periods of time, even in the refrigerator. Pesto, which is low in acid and where oil on top prevents oxygen from getting to the sauce, is an ideal environment for the growth of botulism.) What will probably happen with this ketchup is that it will start to ferment. You might notice that it starts to get fizzy. This isn’t very dangerous, but it is a good indication that it is time to throw it out. The other thing that might happen is that it might start to develop mold on top — likewise, throw it out if this happens.

Thanks for the information. This recipe uses onion powder and garlic powder instead of the raw fresh alternatives, but you could use those if you wanted to make it 100% raw.

Our ketchup’s never lasted long enough to go off, but of course you always need to be super careful with hygiene in the kitchen, whether you’re preparing raw food or anything else. And if anything you make tastes funny, looks funny or smells funny, then it’s always safest to throw it away. “If in doubt, throw it out!”

And if you do ever make any raw food dishes, I’d love to hear back about your experience with how well they last for you.

Okay, here is my favorite raw recipe. It is a recipe that has been in my family since I was little. Raw tomato sauce for pasta or “Pasta con Pomodori Crudi”. The original recipe called for 1/2 lb. of mozzarella cheese, but it works very well without it. I suppose you could also substitute the cheese with something else, kidney beans or tofu, for instance, but I can’t think of any raw food that would work well. This is a sauce that is best made from the middle to the end of the tomato season, when you can get really fresh and very ripe tomatoes.

Peel and coarsely chop the tomatoes and combine with the other sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Don’t refrigerate them! This period of time allows the tomatoes to combine flavors with the olive oil, basil and garlic. It really makes a huge difference in the flavor.

Cook the pasta, drain it and, while it is still very hot, dump it over the tomatoes. Stir it up and serve it immediately. The heat of the pasta will also warm up the tomatoes (which is one of the reasons why you don’t want to refrigerate them).

yummy! Thanks for sharing Jake. My little one LOVES pasta and I don’t like the super processed sauces you buy in the sauce and I prefer to eat raw food but he likes cooked. I’m sure he’d love this! And I’d feel better myself :).

Just a small correction: There is no extra nutrition or real benefit from using Himalayan Salt, or anything else other than regular sea salt/table salt. If you look it up, there are a lot of grandiose claims on the internet, but when you find a qualified source they will tell you it’s all nothing but marketing.

Well, I guess there’s no definitive answer either way, which is why I like to let people make up their own minds.

It’s possible that there’s nothing extra in Himalayan salt, not even the minerals that make it pink. And it’s also possible that “it’s all marketing” is a way to create uncertainty and sidestep the issue.

My favourite cookbooks

My favourite kitchen gadgets

Having the right gadgets has totally changed my experience in the kitchen.

High-speed blender

I use my Vitamix blender at least 2-3 times EVERY day. It's fast, so versatile and super quick and easy to clean. I couldn't live without mine. I absolutely love it!

Food processor

I use my powerful food processor three or four times a week, for making nut butters, desserts, sauces, burgers and more. It's great for large batches and dishes that need texture and just makes "cooking" so much faster.

Dehydrator

I use my 5-tray Excalibur dehydrator once or twice a week, for crackers, breads, biscuits, cakes or even just for thawing things. It does an awesome job and makes eating raw SO much easier.

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